Kopernikus: Observing our planet for a safer
world

Kopernikus is the new name of the European
Commission’s earth observation activities previously known as GMES (Global
Monitoring for Environment and Security) so far. The name Kopernikus was
announced by Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, today at a
dedicated conference in Lille, organised in cooperation with the French
presidency of the EU. The objective of Kopernikus is to monitor the state of the
environment on land, at sea and in the atmosphere and to improve the security of
the citizens in a world facing an increased risk of natural and other disasters.

Vice-President Günter Verheugen, Commissioner for Enterprise and
Industry, said:" Today we honour a great European – Nikolaus
Kopernikus- by dedicating his name to our European project for Global Monitoring
for Environment and Security, formerly known as GMES. As Kopernikus was decisive
to better understand our world, the monitoring will help us to save our planet.
This is also a very concrete demonstration of the technological capacity and
expertise of Europe's space industry"

Information gathered and relayed by Kopernikus helps to improve the
management of our natural resources, monitor the quality of our waters and air,
plan our cities and prevent urban sprawl, ease the flow of transportation,
optimise our agricultural activities and promote renewable energy. Furthermore,
Kopernikus will enhance people’s safety in numerous ways, for
example by providing early warnings of natural disasters, thereby helping
prevent loss of life and damage to property. It also will provide a basis of
enhanced modelling activities to help us better to understand the drivers of
climate change.

Kopernikus will use terrestrial, maritime and atmosphere networks and
satellites to observe the environment and the natural phenomena occurring on the
planet. Kopernikus does not replace existing European capacities, but
rather complements them with a view to fulfilling user needs and guaranteeing
sustainability and European autonomy in the long term. The initiative has been
called Kopernikus in memory of the famous astronomer who greatly advanced the
science of his time. Nikolaus Kopernikus was a true European as his family was
partly German and partly Polish. He wrote in Latin and German and studied and
worked in different countries in Europe.